Latest news with #JakeBates
CBS News
27-05-2025
- Sport
- CBS News
Michigan Panthers to give away bobbleheads of Lions kicker Jake Bates
The Michigan Panthers will compete in their final home game this season with a bobblehead giveaway featuring Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates. On May 31, the Panthers will play the Houston Roughnecks at Ford Field. Kickoff is at 3 p.m. The team said the first 2,000 fans at Ford Field will get a bobblehead. The Panthers clinched a spot in the USFL Conference Championship for the second year. They will take on the Birmingham Stallions on June 8 at Protective Stadium in Alabama in the conference finals. The game winner will play the D.C. Defenders or St. Louis Battlehawks in the championship on June 14. The Panthers lost to the Stallions in the 2024 conference finals. The Stallions would go on to win the championship against the San Antonio Brahmas. Bates played one season with the Panthers before he signed a two-year contract with the Lions. He made 26 of his 29 field goal attempts and 64 of the 67 extra point attempts in the Lions' 2024 season. He was named NFC Special Teams Player of the Month and NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for weeks 7 and 10.
NBC Sports
28-03-2025
- Sport
- NBC Sports
UFL players will start season without a strike
The UFL's players have no new Collective Bargaining Agreement. They'll nevertheless proceed with the season as scheduled, reports Kevin Seifert of It starts on Friday night at 8:00 p.m. ET, with the Houston Roughnecks hosting the St. Louis Battlehawks. The development comes as no surprise to those monitoring the spring league. The players lack the appetite to strike. They want to play football — and they want to play well enough to earn a shot in the NFL. Lions kicker Jake Bates did it last year; his story was chronicled by on Friday. That becomes a powerful carrot for players not inclined to stick it to UFL ownership. That said, the players aren't remaining silent. Seifert reports that some players plan to deliver a letter to UFL co-owner Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, if he attends the regular-season opener in Houston. The letter explains that they want year-round health insurance or a raise that will cover it. The letter also contends that UFL management has refused to bargain with the players in good faith, and that the UFL is willing to invest in everyone but the players. The players likewise appeal to Johnson's history as a player and union member, reminding him of his vow that UFL players can 'live their dreams and take care of their families.' The best way to get the Rock's attention would be to walk. Unless and until the players are willing to do that, the imbalance of power will linger. And the players will have a hard time getting what they want.
