🔗 Share this article

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

With NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no additional trial has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a match held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the opening ceremony.

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

The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fiera hockey venue, which is being established inside a giant exhibition hall on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the playing surface is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed modern arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for events at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the premier hockey organization allowing its players to participate in the Winter Olympics for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to take place from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.