It’s not something the National Football League wants to admit, but players kneeling or sitting in protest during the national anthem has begun to hit league owners in the wallet.

NFL owners have grown anxious after reports of viewership numbers show a big drop from last year, particularly on the marquee prime-time games. TV ratings for “Sunday Night Football” and “Monday Night Football” are off by 16 to 20 percent so far this season, Nielsen told Sporting News on Monday.

Fan frustration has been building all year.

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The NFL sent a memo to team owners last week that said the players’ protests of police shootings and racial discrimination were not the cause of a dramatic downturn in ratings for NFL games, but rather a result of “unprecedented interest in the presidential election.”

But a recent Rasmussen poll confirmed what most fans seem to believe about why ratings have fallen so much. The poll found nearly 32 percent of adults say they’re less likely to watch NFL game telecasts because of the Colin Kaepernick-led player protests.

The declines have been so dramatic TV networks are being forced to give away ad space to make up for the decreasing audiences. The NFL also is cracking down on teams for using too much game footage on social media. Beginning today (Oct. 12), the NFL plans to fine teams up to $25,000 for offenses on social media before and during the games. The goal is to control content generated inside the stadiums.

Related: Fists Against the American Flag

But it’s more than just the players’ protests. Fan frustration has been building all year since Beyoncé used the Super Bowl halftime show to feature dancers clad in Black Panther-inspired costumes and promoted police bashing messages of the Black Lives Matter movement.

“The Super Bowl was supposed to be a time to escape all of the nonsense, but Beyoncé just ripped open another wound and America is responding,” urban youth minister Patrick D. Hampton told Fox News.

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Then, the NFL threatened to levee $6,000 fines against any player who wore commemorative cleats in honor of the 9-11 first responders on the 15th anniversary of the worst terrorist attack on American soil, and denied a request from the Dallas Cowboys to wear decals showing support for the victims of the Dallas police shootings.

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It fined Washington Redskins cornerback Josh Norman $10,000 for pretending to shoot an imaginary bow and arrow because, according to the league, it promoted violence. It fined Terrelle Pryor of Cleveland Browns for imitating LeBron James’ clutch dance with the football after Pryor had scored a touchdown. It fined the Steelers’ Antonio Brown for what it termed a “sexually suggestive” touchdown celebration.

Other controversies, such as Deflategate — in which the New England Patriots got caught letting the air out of footballs to make them more catchable in a wintry weather game during the 2014 playoffs — also have led to the decline in football’s popularity. Domestic violence by players and heightened awareness of concussions and brain damage caused by the sport also have taken their toll.

Related: Boycotting Those National Anthem Protests

Beyond that, fewer people are playing football or any other sport these days. According to a 2015 study done by the Sports & Fitness Industry Association, the percentage of kids who play no sports has climbed for six straight years and now reached an all-time high.

But despite the growing concern over concussions, Will Smith’s movie “Concussion” bombed at the box office last year. Maybe it was a not an interesting story or maybe the American public was tired of being lectured to about a sport that once represented fun, competition and teamwork.

The harder pill to swallow for middle-class Americans living paycheck to paycheck is getting lectures in race politics from millionaire athletes. With a tough election cycle and a bad economy, the NFL is doing a disservice to its fans to selectively allow messages of cop-bashing and disrespect for the national anthem.

People say NFL stands for No Fun League. If it can’t change that, the ratings drop might be just beginning.