Clock Ticking On 2026 Olympic Hockey Venue With NHL Players Set For Big Return
They might be starting to sweat it just a little bit...
Things are taking shape for the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan and Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, but it sounds like there may be some problems with the venue that will play host to the Games' hockey tournaments.
Hockey should be a big draw next February since it marks the first time since the 2014 Winter Games in Sochi that NHL players will be involved, making it the first true best-on-best men's hockey tournament in years (unless you want to count the 2016 World Cup of Hockey… that's up to you).
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So then it would be reasonable to assume that making sure the new 16,000-seat arena, PalaItalia Santa Giulia, which will play host to some of the games, is up to snuff well ahead of the tournament, right?
No.
According to the Associated Press, it's normal for a venue like this to get something of a shakedown before the Olympics get underway. That makes sense. You want to make sure that everything from the playing surface to the concession stands to the toilets is firing on all cylinders.
This test event was scheduled for December. However, the arena is so far behind schedule that this test was moved to another, smaller arena.
"It’s going to be very close to the start of the Games; the timeline is very tight. But we knew that," local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.
The PalaItalia Santa Giulia in Milan will host hockey at the upcoming Winter Olympics, but it's on an increasingly tight construction schedule. (Photo by Vincenzo Lombardo/Getty Images)
They don't seem too concerned, and while it sounds pretty bad, I can't think of a single Olympics that didn't have something like this in the lead-up. Not once has there been a Games where a few months out, organizers were like, "No, things look great. Hell, we could start the Olympics tomorrow if we wanted to."
Never. It's always some race against the clock. I mean, five months out from the 2024 Games in Paris, they were still trying to de-turd the Seine.
So, while this time frame is less than ideal, I'm sure the arena will be ready to go for the puck drop this February.