SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- NBC Sports Group announced a 10-year contract extension to televise Notre Dame football games Thursday, doubling the length of its previous agreement.

NBC and Notre Dame said the extension would begin in 2016 and run through the 2025 season. The contract, reportedly worth $15 million annually for football, had never run for more than five years.

NBC will have global media rights on all platforms to a minimum of seven Notre Dame home football games each year, with most airing on the main NBC network. It also allows for games to be carried on the NBC Sports Network cable channel.

NBC has held Notre Dame football TV rights since 1991. Terms of the new contract were not announced.

"Coming off one of Notre Dame's best and most dramatic seasons in decades, we could not be more proud to extend this historic partnership, which continues to be one of the most innovative in sports-media history," NBC Sports Group chairman Mark Lazarus said in a statement. "We are particularly excited that this extension offers enhanced rights that allow us to bring Notre Dame football to fans on more platforms than ever before."

Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick said the addition of the NBC Sports Network will allow for greater exposure for the football team and other Notre Dame sports programs.

"We look forward to collaborating on additional projects and distribution strategies in seasons to come," Swarbrick said in a statement.

Notre Dame's football team finished the regular season 12-0 last season and lost to Alabama in the BCS championship game.

According to NBC Sports Group, the Irish averaged 4.4 million viewers and a 2.8 household rating for its seven games on NBC in 2012. That marked a 69 percent increase in viewers and 67 percent increase in household rating compared with 2011.

Notre Dame plans to continue using revenues from the contract to fund the school's financial-aid endowment for the general student body, not including athletes. The school said that since 1991, about 6,300 undergraduates have received nearly $80 million in aid from revenue generated through the NBC contract.

Notre Dame also uses NBC revenues to endow doctoral fellowships in its graduate school and MBA scholarships in its Mendoza College of Business.