Milano Hockey Arena Delays Could Leave NHL Players on Untested Playing Surface
Put aside poor conditions. For now, the surface isn't ready.
With NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympic Games for the first time in over a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.
Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the main test event for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been moved to a smaller arena – and that no additional trial has been scheduled yet.
The issue raises the prospect that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.
“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.
The event that was intended to test the Santagiulia playing surface was part of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event 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 stage secondary matches during the games.
Typically, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested 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 checking concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.
This new facility, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become the nation's largest indoor arena. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.
In spite of the delays and concerns, expensive passes are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Tickets for the men's championship final on 22 February – the closing day of the Olympics – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.
The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed last February, with the world’s top hockey organization permitting its players to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.
Men's Olympic hockey competition is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s event runs from 5-19 February.
