NEW YORK -- In exchange for allowing sportscaster Al Michaels to leave ABC early for a job at NBC Universal, The Walt Disney Co. is getting back a piece of its history: The first animated character created by Disney.

His name was Oswald the Lucky Rabbit. The cheeky bunny was created by Disney and his chief creative partner in 1927 at the request of Universal Pictures. (Click here to see picture of Oswald.)

Disney cranked out 26 of the silent Oswald cartoons. The character proved popular and soon began appearing on merchandise.

But Disney suffered a devastating blow when he found out that Universal owned the rights to Oswald, and would continue to create Oswald cartoons without Disney.

Disney recovered. He created a new cartoon character by the name of Mickey Mouse.

In the deal announced Thursday, Disney will get the rights to the Oswald character plus all 26 shorts created by Disney.

NBC also secured Michaels' NFL broadcasting team and talent in exchange for rights to Ryder Cup matches with a rights fee, Olympic highlights, broader access to Notre Dame football, the Kentucky Derby and the Preakness.

The agreement was reached following negotiations between ABC Sports, ESPN president George Bodenheimer and NBC Sports chairman Dick Ebersol throughout the last month.

Michaels' partner in the booth throughout the last four years, John Madden signed a six-year deal with NBC in June. The company takes over Sunday night NFL games next season from ESPN, which will broadcast Monday Night Football. NBC will join Bob Costas and Cris Collinsworth with the duo for their studio show.

Retired quarterback Joe Theismann, Washington Post columnist Tony Kornheiser and Mike Tirico will broadcast from the ESPN booth during Monday night games next season.