The American Athletic Conference has officially announced that it has agreed to a 12-year media rights extension with ESPN beginning in 2020-21. Financial terms of the contract were not disclosed, but it will be worth $1 billion, according to Sports Business Daily.

That will boost member schools with nearly $7 million of annual income, up from about $2 million per year for the current deal, which will extend through next July. The league will also have more of its football, men's basketball and women's basketball games broadcast on ESPN's "premier" networks — ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU.

The league is currently in the sixth year of a seven-year, $126 million media rights deal that was signed in February, 2013.

"It's a great day for the conference," AAC commissioner Mike Aresco said. "If you think about where we were six years ago and the confidence ESPN has shown in us. For me, it's a game-changing deal with a lot of positive repercussions for us."

The AAC will also provide a large amount of content on ESPN+, which is the network's direct-to-consumer sports streaming service.

"We're straddling both worlds," Aresco added. "The world of traditional media and the digital age. The world has changed, and it really gave this conference an opportunity. I think ESPN recognized that, and recognized the potential that's still there with our conference. We've just scratched the surface. This conference has tremendous range."

The league will have a minimum of 40 regular-season football games per season on ABC, ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, up from its current minimum of 26. At least 20 of trhose games will run across ABC, ESPN and ESPN2. The AAC championship game will be televised each year on ABC or ESPN.

In men's basketball, a minimum of 65 regular-season games per season will be broadcast on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU. The minimum for this past season was 32. At least 25 of those games will be on ESPN or ESPN2, and the conference tournament will continue to be covered by ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, with the championship game on ESPN.

And in women's basketball, a minimum of 13 regular-season games per season will be on the premier networks, with a minimum of five on ESPN and ESPN2.

So what does the new deal, which Aresco lauded as a "landmark agreement," mean for UConn? For one, at least $5 million more in network money, which will help offset the payments from the old Big East (exit fees, championship tournament units) that will expire next year. It will also provide the opportunity for more games on regular ESPN, though that's incumbent upon the teams (particularly football and men's basketball) getting better. ESPN executive vice president of programming and scheduling Burke Magnus noted that AAC games chosen to be broadcast on the network's premier channels will essentially involve teams in the hunt for championships, bowl games, the NCAA tournament, etc.

It also means more UConn games could be tucked behind the paywall of ESPN+. The league estimates that between 30-35 conference-controlled football games and approximately 135 men's basketball games will be distributed annually on the platform. An estimated 160 conference-controlled women's basketball games, plus first and quarterfinal rounds of the women's basketball championship, will also be streamed on ESPN+.

And while such digital programming may represent the future of sports broadcasting, it won't be easy for many UConn fans to adjust to paying the approximate $5 monthly fee to stream live coverage of games.

Magnus noted, however, that there is still some 18 months left on the current deal, and over that time, the network will almost certainly engage in talks with SNY and CBS Sports Network to continue to sublicense UConn games on those networks. Currently, most of the UConn men's team's non-league games in November and December and the majority of the UConn women's team's games throughout the season are broadcast on SNY. That will continue next season.

This past season, the UConn men had 12 regular-season games broadcast on ESPN's premier channels (two on ESPN, seven on ESPN2, three on ESNU), eight on CBS Sports Network, seven on SNY and one on CBS. There were also three games televised on ESPNews.

The league hopes to continue a relationship with CBS for some of its bigger men's basketball games, as well. Beyond select Navy football games and select men's basketball games, all conference-controlled football and men's basketball games from The American will air on an ESPN network or ESPN+. All women's basketball controlled games will also be carried across ESPN's platforms.

In all, more than 135 conference-controlled games will air annually on ESPN's networks, and more than 1,650 events throughout the duration of the 12-year deal. At least 1,250 events (500 in 2020-21 and 750 in 2021-22) will be distributed on ESPN+ over the first two years of the deal and at least 1,000 beginning in 2022-23 and in each subsequent year of the contract.

Perhaps the biggest benefactor will be the so-called "Olympic sports" (baseball, softball, track and field, tennis, swimming, volleyball etc.), which will have hundreds of events televised by ESPN+.

"This is a much more comprehensive deal," said Magnus. "Frankly, the thing we're most excited about is that the new platform allows us to do a deal that, quite literally, acquires every athletic event that the conference stages. It certainly helped drive the overall value conversation."

"We'll have a significant presence on (ESPN+) where before there was no coverage, or just local websites," Aresco said. "Now, we'll have a significant amount of events people were not previously able to see."

Of course, what most fans want to know is how it all affects the basketball and football teams, and how much the increased TV revenue will help the entire athletic department. Sources at UConn have worried about how much the school will benefit, particularly at the back end of the deal.

Ultimately, it comes down to winning. If UConn improves significantly in men's basketball under Dan Hurley and in football under Randy Edsall, the programs will get more exposure on ESPN's premier networks.