Rainer Schaller

Rainer Schaller
Schaller in 2018
Born	(1969-01-04)4 January 1969 Bamberg, Bavaria, West Germany
Died	21 October 2022(2022-10-21) (aged 53) Caribbean Sea near Limón, Costa Rica
Occupation	Founder CEO of RSG Group GmbH
Partner	Christine Schikorsky
Children	2
Relatives	Gerd Schaller (brother)

Rainer Schaller (4 January 1969 – 21 October 2022)^[1] was a German entrepreneur. He was the Founder CEO of the RSG Group, which includes the McFit, John Reed Fitness and Gold's Gym fitness studios.^[2] He hit headlines as a result of the disaster at the 2010 Love Parade in Duisburg, which he organized. On 21 October 2022, Schaller and his son Aaron died in a private plane crash in Costa Rica.^[3]^[4]

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Early life

Schaller grew up in Schlüsselfeld,^[5] West Germany near Bamberg. His mother and grandfather worked in retail there.^[6] The conductor and Anton Bruckner expert,^[7] Gerd Schaller, is his brother.^[8]

Business career

Retail

Schaller completed his training as a retail salesman in Schlüsselfeld.^[5] He supplemented this with further training to become a business and retail specialist. At the age of 22, he took over his first Edeka supermarket, and shortly afterwards three more in his home region.^[9]

Fitness industry

In 1997, he switched to the fitness industry and opened his first studio under the McFit brand in Würzburg, Germany.^[9] He tapped into the discount segment of the market with this brand.^[10] By mid-2006, McFit was operating 62 fitness studios in Germany with a combined 400,000 members and 1,000 permanent employees.^[8] In 2011, McFit was considered the largest fitness studio operator in Europe, with more than 1 million members.^[11]^[12] Schaller gradually diversified his business to reach different target groups.^[13] In 2018, Schaller appointed Vito Scavo to oversee operational management of his holding company.^[14] In August 2019, the McFit Global Group holding company was renamed RSG Group and encompasses twelve fitness chains (including McFit, John Reed Fitness, High 5).^[15] In 2020, Schaller acquired Gold's Gym,^[16] which was in bankruptcy (Chapter 11 proceedings) due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[17] By the end of 2020, Schaller's group of companies employed 41,000 people in 48 countries, managed 17 different brands and more than 1,000 studios.^[18]

Love Parade

In 2006, Schaller became managing director of Lopavent,^[19]^[8] which organized the Love Parade until 2010. The aim was to use the event to promote McFit's studios.^[9] The Love Parade went off without incident, under Schaller's direction, for three years.^[20]^{[better source needed]} In 2010, however, he came under fire^[21]^[22] for the Love Parade disaster in Duisburg, which left 21 people dead and 652 injured.^[23] Schaller testified as a witness in the court proceedings on the accident in 2018, accepted moral responsibility, but was not charged.^[24]

Disappearance and death

On 21 October 2022, a Piaggio P.180 Avanti plane carrying Schaller, his partner Christine Schikorsky, their two children, a 66-year-old Swiss pilot and another German passenger crashed into the Caribbean Sea near Limón, Costa Rica, while on a flight from Palenque, Mexico. The bodies of one adult and one child were recovered, but not initially identified.^[25]^[26] On 4 November the remains of the two bodies were identified as those of Schaller and his son.^[1]

References

^ ^a ^b "Gold's Gym Owner Rainer Schaller Confirmed Dead". Club Industry. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
^ Gode, Solveig (3 November 2020). "DJs, Onlinekurse, flexiblere Tarife: Wie sich Fitnessstudio-Ketten wie McFit und Fitness First auch nach der Corona-Pandemie verändern werden" [DJs, online classes, more flexible rates: How gym chains like McFit and Fitness First will continue to change after the coronavirus pandemic]. Business Insider (in German). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
^ "Death of Rainer Schaller confirmed | Leisure Opportunities news".
^ "Gym magnate and son confirmed dead after plane crash off Costa Rica". 4 November 2022.
^ ^a ^b Kreye, Lars (26 July 2010). "Der McFit-Mann, der sich zu viel zutraute" [The McFit man who dared to do too much]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 24 January 2022.
^ "Mister McFit in Bedrängnis" [Mister McFit in distress]. Die Presse (in German). 27 July 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
^ Lehnert, Richard (1 November 2011). "Recording of November 2011: Bruckner Symphonies 4, 7, 9". Stereophile. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Philipp, Bernd (14 July 2006). "Der Sportler und die Party – Es muß Liebe sein" [The athlete and the party - It must be love]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c Lisa Nienhaus: Der Muskelmacher [The muscle maker]. (In German) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 January 2008.
^ Saskia Littmann: Sein Geschäft geht weiter. Handelsblatt, 24 July 2012.
^ Becker, Jessica (10 March 2011). "McFit in Jubellaune: Fitnesskette feiert Mitgliederrekord mit Werbeoffensive" [McFit in jubilation: Fitness chain celebrates membership record with advertising offensive]. Horizont (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2022.
^ Zauner, Karin (30 May 2011). "Gute Geschäfte mit dem guten Aussehen" [Good business with good looks]. Salzburger Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2022.
^ Tuma, Thomas (28 February 2019). "More international and exclusive: Gym chain McFit reinvents itself" [More international and exclusive: Gym chain McFit reinvents itself]. Handelsblatt (in German).
^ Jahn, Thomas (16 May 2018). "McFit-Chef Rainer Schaller übergibt das operative Geschäft an Vito Scavo" [McFit CEO Rainer Schaller hands over the operational business to Vito Scavo]. Handelsblatt (in German). Retrieved 6 November 2022.
^ Güntert, Andreas (10 August 2019). "Körperliche Fitness sendet Signale bezüglich Leistungsbereitschaft" [Physical fitness sends signals about motivation]. Die Welt (in German). Retrieved 6 November 2022.
^ Hall, Mark (30 August 2020). "Bold Business Moves: An Interview With The CEO Who Just Acquired One Of The Most Iconic Brands In Fitness, During A Pandemic". Forbes. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
^ Togoh, Isabel (5 May 2020). "Bodybuilding Favorite Gold's Gym Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection". Forbes. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
^ "Schlüsselfelder erobert die Welt" [Key fields conquer the world]. inFranken.de (in German). 3 November 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
^ "... Was macht eigentlich ... Rainer Schaller? Die Liebe allein" [... What does ... Rainer Schaller actually do? Love alone]. Die Tageszeitung (in German). 1 November 2006. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
^ "Diese Love Parade war für mich das Schlimmste" (Lisa Nienhaus, interview with Rainer Schaller). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 27 February 2011.
^ "Das war ein Verbrechen" [That was a crime]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 26 July 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
^ Niasseri, Sassan (13 July 2011). "Reaktionen auf Dr. Motte: Schaller und Sauerland gehören in U-Haft" [Reactions to Dr. Motte: Schaller and Sauerland belong in custody]. Musikexpress (in German). Retrieved 1 February 2022.
^ Westen, Jessika (24 July 2020). "21 Tote, 652 Verletzte – und kein Schuldiger" [21 dead, 652 injured - and no one to blame]. n-tv (in German). Retrieved 27 January 2022.
^ "Veranstalter Rainer Schaller übernimmt "moralische Verantwortung"" [Organizer Rainer Schaller assumes "moral responsibility"]. Spiegel Online (in German). 22 May 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
^ Niles, Russ (23 October 2022). "Gold's Gym Owner, Family Killed In Costa Rica Crash". AVweb. Archived from the original on 24 October 2022. Retrieved 24 October 2022.
^ Genovese, Daniella (25 October 2022). "Gold's Gym parent company gives update on CEO, family's plane crash off Costa Rican coast". FOXBusiness. Retrieved 25 October 2022.