(Image credit: Wilfredo Lee/AP Photo)

Perhaps the only people more disappointed about the Monday's national championship game than Notre Dame may be the television sponsors.

Alabama University quarterback AJ McCarron, who led his team in his second national championship game victory, trounced Notre Dame 42-14, leading many to possibly tune out before the second half of the game, says Jim Andrews, senior vice president of sponsorship analytics firm IEG.

"That's some of the inherent risk in advertising in sports," Andrews said.

The marquee sponsor, Discover, likely paid $15 million to $20 million for its advertising package.

Another winner was ESPN, which broadcast the game. The sports cable network said ratings for last night's game was 13.8 percent higher compared with the 2012 game last year between Alabama and LSU, according to Nielsen. ESPN said it was the highest-rated program on Monday night of all programs.

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ESPN and ABC News are both owned by Disney.

Sponsors are eagerly anticipating the start of the 2014-2015 NCAA football season, which will mark a new four-team playoff system leading to a true championship game. Currently a rating system determines who will play in the Bowl Championship Series.

The cost of sponsoring college football's new championship game in 2015 will be about $35 million, the highest rights fee ever for a collegiate sports property, according to data from IEG and Kantar Media's ImageTrack service.

"The folks who sell sponsorship advertising packages will be able to take advantage of the heightened interest in that game," Andrews said.

Another winner of the game: McCarron's girlfriend, Katherine Webb, who became a Twitter sensation just from being a spectator.