🔗 Share this article

Put aside poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the puck is dropped for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was intended to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will stage secondary matches during the Olympics.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to hosting podium competitions. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not only about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is ready and secure. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary arena.

This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is slated to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). That’s more than the price of any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the premier hockey organization allowing its athletes to compete in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey tournament is set to take place from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.