Athletic director Chet Gladchuk said the media rights deal that was formally announced on Wednesday “totally justifies” the Naval Academy’s decision to join the American Athletic Conference.
ESPN and the American Athletic Conference jointly announced a new 12-year contract that will begin during the 2020-2021 academic year. Financial terms were not disclosed, but Sports Business Journal previously reported the deal is worth $1 billion.
If that figure is accurate, the annual payout for all the full-fledged member schools would be approximately $7 million. That would result in a $5 million per year increase per school as compared to the previous contract.