Q. I want to subscribe to the NFL Sunday Ticket on DIRECTV, but I’m afraid to because I’m afraid the season will be cancelled or delayed and I’m not sure what will happen to my money. Any guesses on how they would handle that? — Gary, Kettering, Ohio. 

Gary, I understand your concern. If you’re an existing DIRECTV subscriber, the base NFL Sunday Ticket plan costs $293.94 while the Max package (includes Red Zone channel and a streaming option) goes for $395. (Note: DIRECTV offers the Sunday Ticket for free to new customers who order a Choice or above plan.)

That’s a significant investment considering there are some players and health officials who are questioning whether the 2020 season can be played during an international pandemic.

For what it’s worth, the league is adamant that games will begin on time in September, although there likely won’t be pre-season contests.

“We’ve never wavered from that,” NFL spokesman Brian McCarthy told USA Today this week. “It would be news if we said we aren’t playing the season. But we’ve never come close to saying that.”

But what would happen if the NFL decided that the games couldn’t begin on time, or if the entire season had to be scrapped?

I think we can take guidance from how DIRECTV handled the suspension of the 2020 Major League Baseball and Major League Soccer seasons.

There were a few months of uncertainty while the leagues tried to determine when play could begin again. But in late May, DIRECTV decided to issue credits to customers who had earlier subscribed to the MLB Extra Innings and MLS Direct Kick packages before play was suspended.

“With the professional baseball and soccer seasons postponed or suspended, our customers who subscribed to MLB Extra Innings and MLS Direct Kick will receive credits for any payments already made toward their subscription and we have postponed future charges until we learn more from the leagues,” AT&T, which owns DIRECTV, said in a notice posted at its web site.

Several Extra Innings customers told me that DIRECTV earlier also agreed to provide full refunds if you called or e-mailed them.

So if the NFL season is cancelled, you would likely get your money back. You might have to contact DIRECTV to get it promptly, of course, but eventually it would come back to you.

And if the season is delayed, or shortened, I think you would get a credit or partial refund, depending upon the circumstances.

Gary, hope that helps. Happy viewing, and stay safe!

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