By JM Rieger and Niels Lesniewski

A Senate Democrat is floating a proposal that could increase the government’s leverage over the activities of professional sports leagues like the NFL. Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said Wednesday that he’s planning legislation to impose a sunset on the antitrust exemptions enjoyed by the National Football League and the other pro sports. The former Connecticut attorney general called the response of the NFL to the domestic violence incident involving now-former Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice something “right out of the 1950s, out of an episode of ‘Madmen.'”