Construction of hockey arena for 2026 Olympics facing a 'tight schedule'

The schedule for completing the arena that will be used for many hockey games at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Italy will be "very tight," organizers told the International Olympic Committee (IOC) this week at the organization's 144th Session in Greece.

The Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in Milan, which is slated to be able to host 16,000 fans, will host many men's hockey games and the semifinal and final games in women's hockey. It will also be home to Para hockey during the Paralympics.

But if things go to schedule, organizers won't be able to get into the facility to start building the temporary ice the players will use until October, four months before the Games are set to begin.

The arena is being developed by a private company. After the Games, the ice will be removed and it will host other sports.

"We've been following through the processes since the very beginning," Andrea Varnier, the CEO of Milano Cortina 2026, said after his presentation to IOC members on Thursday.

Varnier blamed the pandemic for a "slow start" that left private owners wondering if the arena would be a good investment, without knowing what might happen in the world.

Goaltender Emerance Maschmeyer and forward Natalie Spooner celebrate a gold-medal win on the ice at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics. Women's hockey will have its semi-final and final games at the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena in 2026. (Jae C. Hong/The Associated Press)

"We were really worried at one point," Varnier said. "Finally work started and they're going very, very fast."

The photos shown by the organizing committee during their presentation showed a skeleton of a structure.

Ice to be tested less than 2 months before Games

The schedule would see the temporary ice finished in December, less than two months before the Games. Then, organizers will hold test events to gauge its quality.

Asked about the organizers' backup plan should the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena not be ready in time, Varnier said there isn't one.

"We don't see a need for a backup plan because like we said, the work is going perfectly online with our timing," Varnier said. So we don't believe, together with the international federation, that we need a plan B."

After the Olympics and Paralympics, the ice will be removed and the facility can be used for other sports, such as tennis, which are more popular in the local area.

NHL players will return to the Olympics for the first time since 2014. The first tickets went on sale over two days in February.

Of more than 600,000 tickets sold, hockey was one of the most popular draws, along with biathlon, figure skating and cross-country skiing.

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"It's obvious that it's a very huge opportunity for us, for Italy, for the games for the Olympic movement but specifically for Milano Cortina 2026," Giovanni Malagò, the president of the organizing committee, told reporters.

Asked about the quality of the temporary ice the players will use, Varnier said there are great examples of tournaments using temporary ice.

"We have the knowledge, the technology and the experience to make a fantastic temporary ice sheet for the NHL players to have a fantastic [tournament]," he said.

"We're working with international federations. This has never been a worry. Of course much more challenging is the speed skating. That will be temporary as well."

Sliding Centre set for testing

The Milan Ice Park will host the speed skating stadium and Rho Ice Hockey Arena, which will play host to the men's and women's hockey games that won't be at the new Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena.

Varnier told the IOC that permanent work on the Ice Park is complete. After the Games, the venue will be available as a multifunctional space for the community. Like at Santagiulia, the ice is temporary.

"At the same time, we will be able to demonstrate that it is possible to organize a complex event such as a speed skating competition in a temporary and sustainable venue," Varnier said.

Next week, 60 athletes are slated to test the sliding centre being built in Cortina, a venue that had been the target of sabotage last month. The backup plan, had the sliding centre not been completed, would see sliding events moved all the way to Lake Placid, N.Y.

The athletes' village in Milan is almost complete, while the first prefabricated houses started arriving in Cortina d'Ampezzo two weeks ago, organizers said.

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