Throw in the Rabbit and you've got a deal

During lunch today, I scanned my regular list of newsfeeds and came across confirmation that Al Michaels (he of "do you believe in miracles" fame) was leaving ABC to join John Madden at NBC to call the Sunday night NFL games beginning next fall.

Al Michael's, who's been the voice of Monday Night Football, was a key asset at ABC Sports and rightfully, NBC had to make a decent offer to get him. According to the article, "In exchange for letting Michaels out of his contract with ABC and ESPN, which are owned by The Walt Disney Co., NBC Universal sold ESPN cable rights to Friday coverage of the next four Ryder Cups, granted ESPN increased usage of Olympic highlights and sold to The Walt Disney Co. the rights to "Oswald the Lucky Rabbit," a character in silent cartoons made by Walt Disney from 1927-28."

The Ryder Cup is pretty big, I see the value there. Increased usage of the Olympics has value too. But what's the point of Oswald the Lucky Rabbit? I can envision the deal negotiations...
NBC - We'd like to offer you Friday coverage of the Ryder Cup for Al Michaels
ABC - We'll take the Ryder Cup but we want more Olympics highlights and $1M in cash
NBC - We're good for the Olympic highlights, but the cash is over the top
ABC - Okay, throw in Oswald the Rabbit and we've got a deal
NBC - Done

Oswald was apparently an early cartoon character created by Walt Disney. Walt used Universal to distribute the cartoon and lost the rights. Mr. Disney created another character based on a mouse, known today as Mickey.

I guess you can get your rights back, even if it takes a long time. Do you think there's still hope for Esau? Throw in the rabbit and we've got a deal.