While working on the set of a film being shot in his small Alberta hometown, Winter forged relationships which allowed him to move to Los Angeles to pursue a career in entertainment law. After attending both law and film school, Ritch landed an internship with powerhouse entertainment lawyers Ted Steinberg and Marvin Demoff who counted Kareem Abdul Jabar, John Elway, Dan Marino, and various SCTV cast members as clients.  

Although the internship had Ritch rubbing elbows with celebrities, there were no heroes greater to him than the NHLers he grew up admiring as a young hockey player. He returned to Canada and founded his first agency, The Entertainment & Sports Corporation.  Not long after, he led an all-star group of players including Gordie Howe, Bobby Orr, and Carl Brewer, and assembled a legal team to address abuses of power by the NHL and agent Alan Eagleson. Their mission: to recover monies the NHL had wrongfully taken from the players’ pensions. They would go on to win a $50 million judgment. Winter once revered Eagleson but took the opposite path and put the needs of his players first, helping to overthrow his once icon who had abused his power.  

It was clear who Winter and his company worked for: the players. And it showed in his actions. He helped Frantisek Musil and David Volek escape communist Czechoslovakia and as the influx of Czech and Slovak players grew, Ritch dropped “Entertainment” and his company became The Sports Corporation. As they expanded into offices in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Sweden, Winter continued to push his commitment to better the lives of his players through goal setting and his guidance.