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Forget about poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

As NHL athletes preparing to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in over a ten years, building work on the main hockey venue for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Local organizers confirmed on Wednesday that the primary trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a more compact arena – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

The issue creates the possibility that there might not be a game held in the main arena until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – 24 hours before the inaugural event.

“The timeline will be very close to the start of the Olympics, the schedule is highly compressed. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. That event has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey venue, which is being established inside a massive convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are trialled at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a large hockey venue, it’s not only about the playing surface and ensuring that the rink is ready and secure. It’s also about checking concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern arena.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become Italy’s biggest covered stadium. 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 concerns, high-priced passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men's championship game on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (more than $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milan-Cortina Games. Solely tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced in February of last year, with the premier hockey organization permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's event runs from 5-19 February.