Rainer Schaller

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 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]

Rainer Schaller
Schaller in 2018
Born(1969-01-04)4 January 1969
Bamberg, Bavaria, West Germany
Died21 October 2022(2022-10-21) (aged 53)
Caribbean Sea near Limón, Costa Rica
OccupationFounder CEO of RSG Group GmbH
PartnerChristine Schikorsky
Children2
RelativesGerd Schaller (brother)

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, 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] 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 November 4, the remains of the two bodies were identified as those of Schaller and his son.[1]

References
  1. "Gold's Gym Owner Rainer Schaller Confirmed Dead". Club Industry. 4 November 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
  2. 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.
  3. "Death of Rainer Schaller confirmed | Leisure Opportunities news".
  4. "Gym magnate and son confirmed dead after plane crash off Costa Rica". 4 November 2022.
  5. 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.
  6. "Mister McFit in Bedrängnis" [Mister McFit in distress]. Die Presse (in German). 27 July 2010. Retrieved 24 January 2022.
  7. Lehnert, Richard (1 November 2011). "Recording of November 2011: Bruckner Symphonies 4, 7, 9". Stereophile. Retrieved 27 January 2022.
  8. 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.
  9. Lisa Nienhaus: Der Muskelmacher [The muscle maker]. (In German) Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 January 2008.
  10. Saskia Littmann: Sein Geschäft geht weiter. Handelsblatt, 24 July 2012.
  11. 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.
  12. Zauner, Karin (30 May 2011). "Gute Geschäfte mit dem guten Aussehen" [Good business with good looks]. Salzburger Nachrichten (in German). Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  13. 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).
  14. 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.
  15. 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.
  16. 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.
  17. Togoh, Isabel (5 May 2020). "Bodybuilding Favorite Gold's Gym Files For Chapter 11 Bankruptcy Protection". Forbes. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  18. "Schlüsselfelder erobert die Welt" [Key fields conquer the world]. inFranken.de (in German). 3 November 2020. Retrieved 26 January 2022.
  19. "... 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.
  20. "Diese Love Parade war für mich das Schlimmste" (Lisa Nienhaus, interview with Rainer Schaller). Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 27 February 2011.
  21. "Das war ein Verbrechen" [That was a crime]. Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). 26 July 2010. Retrieved 1 February 2022.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. "Veranstalter Rainer Schaller übernimmt "moralische Verantwortung"" [Organizer Rainer Schaller assumes "moral responsibility"]. Spiegel Online (in German). 22 May 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2022.
  25. 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.
  26. 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.
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