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Put aside poor conditions. Currently, the surface isn't ready.

With NHL players gearing up to return to the Olympics for the first time in more than a ten years, building work on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is going down to the wire.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia arena that was scheduled for December has been relocated to a smaller arena – and that no new test event has been scheduled yet.

The issue raises the prospect that there may 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.

“It’s going to be very close to the start of the games, the timeline is very tight. However, we were aware,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier stated in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the under-20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been transferred to the Rho Fair hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on Milan’s outskirts and will host secondary matches during the games.

Usually, new Olympic venues are tested at least the prior year to hosting medal events. And with a sizable hockey venue, it’s not just about the ice and making sure that the playing surface is prepared and safe. It’s also about checking concession stands, bathrooms and all other amenities inside a brand-new modern arena.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's biggest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being considered as a potential future host of the ATP Tour Finals tennis tournament.

Despite the postponements and worries, expensive passes are already being purchased for events at the Santagiulia venue. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the final day of the games – are going for as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). That’s more than for any other athletic competition at the Milan-Cortina Games. Only tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies cost more.

The return of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey league permitting its athletes to participate in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

The men’s Olympic hockey competition is scheduled to run from 11-22 February. Women's tournament runs from 5-19 February.