Milan Hockey Arena Delays Could Force NHL Stars on Unproven Ice
Put aside thin ice. Currently, there’s no ice.
As NHL athletes preparing to make a comeback to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.
Local organizers announced on Wednesday that the primary test event for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.
This situation raises the prospect that there may not be a game held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women's initial games at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.
“The timeline will be extremely tight to the beginning of the Olympics, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.
The event that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being set up inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host lesser games during the Olympics.
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 only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, restrooms and all other amenities inside a newly constructed contemporary arena.
The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a commercial firm, is scheduled to become Italy’s largest covered stadium. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Finals tennis tournament.
In spite of the delays and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia venue. Tickets for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds the price of any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the inaugural and final events cost more.
The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, 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 tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. Women's event occurs from 5-19 February.