Put aside poor conditions. For now, there’s no ice.
As NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, building work on the primary hockey venue for the Milano Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Officials confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved 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 primary venue until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.
“It’s going to be extremely tight to the beginning of the games, the schedule is highly compressed. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.
The event that was supposed to test the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being set up inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the games.
Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the year before to holding medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the rink is ready and secure. It’s also about testing concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.
In spite of the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.
The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its players to compete in the Winter Games for the initial occasion since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to take place from 11-22 February. Women's tournament occurs from 5-19 February.
