Utah Jazz TV play-by-play announcer Craig Bolerjack says he expects all sporting events to look a little different as things start to possibly open back up.

The NBA temporarily suspended its season back in March after Jazz stars Rudy Gobert and Donovan Mitchell tested positive for COVID-19. There have only been rumors of how or when the season would resume.

Bolerjack says for the NBA, Commissioner Adam Silver, is taking a slow approach to ensure safety of the players and fans. An announcement may come Monday with a plan from Silver on how franchises can start recalling its players.

“I think that’s going to be a good thing,” Bolerjack said. “To kind of understand for all of us, what is the plan? What is the direction the NBA will go? How will they facilitate getting players back and get re-acclimated to the practice?

“Will they play any type of regular season game? I’m not sure that (any regular season games) is going to happen.”

Currently the Utah Jazz sit fourth in the Western Conference standings at 41-23. They had 18 games left, but it is unknown right now if they will play out those last games or if a new format may be implemented.

Bolerjack believes the league will just jump right into a playoff type structure. He says with concerns over safety the Orlando model may be best. Reports say that the league is close to a deal with Disney World to have one site to play its games starting the end of July. Whether that is regular season games or playoff games remains to be seen.

Bolerjack also wonders what it will take to get the players back into game shape. The league suspended players from using the team’s facilities to stay in shape. So they have had to find ways to stay fit on their own.

“Game shape is another level,” Bolerjack said. “You got to restart, not only do you restart again getting back to the body, but you restart your whole mental process.”

The Jazz will also be looking how the team fits together without forward Bojan Bogdanović who underwent season ending surgery on his wrist. Bolerjack wonders if there was a delay in the elective surgery for the Jazz forward due to the current pandemic. Bogdanović is a big loss for the team’s playoff hopes as they lose a 41% three-point shooter and a 20 point-per-game scorer.

“Doing (the surgery now) ensures at least a healthy Bojan Bogdanović for next season,” Bolerjack said.

What it may look like for fall sports

While places like the NBA and MLB are figuring out how they can continue this season, some other sports like the NFL and NCAA Football are looking at how they will be able to get their season up and going by the end of summer.

Ohio State is looking at ways it can play without fans or have a limited capacity. Bolerjack says the bottom line is everyone wants football this upcoming fall.

“I read that if college football did not happen, that’s a $4 billion loss,” Bolerjack said. “But if you think about that and a lack of funding that would go into the colleges and universities would be devastating.”

He also says he does not see things going back to normal for at least a year. He believes fans should be ready to go to games via technology or in a limited capacity for a while as it will take more time to understand the virus and see if a vaccine can be developed.

“Someone’s got to be a leader in this,” Bolerjack said. “And someone is going to have to take some chances.”

He believes whatever happens this fall may also be a blueprint for how the NBA will return with fans. He also says you may see 8,000 fans or so rather than the usual 19,000 fans in NBA arenas as they look to spread them out to maintain social distancing.