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

As NHL athletes gearing up to return to the Olympic Games for the initial occasion in more than a decade, construction on the primary hockey arena for the Milan-Cortina Games is cutting it close.

Officials announced on Wednesday that the main trial competition for the 16,000-seat Santagiulia facility originally planned for December has been relocated to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation creates the possibility that there might not be a match held in the primary venue until the competition begins for the women’s preliminary round at the Olympics on 5 February – one day before the opening ceremony.

“The timeline will be extremely tight to the start of the Olympics, the timeline is very tight. But we knew that,” Milan-Cortina organizing body CEO Andrea Varnier said recently.

The competition that was supposed to test the Santagiulia playing surface was a segment of the U20 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 lesser games during the Olympics.

Usually, 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 playing surface is prepared and secure. It’s additionally about testing concession stands, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new contemporary stadium.

This new facility, which is being built by a private company, is scheduled to become the nation's largest covered stadium. Following the Olympics, it’s being eyed as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Tour Finals tennis event.

Despite the delays and worries, high-priced passes are already being purchased for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal final on 22 February – the closing day of the games – are priced at as much as €1,400 (over $1,600). This exceeds for any other sports event at the Milano Cortina Games. Only passes for the inaugural and final events are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL players at the Olympics was revealed in February of last year, with the premier hockey league allowing its athletes to participate in the Winter Olympics for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

Men's Olympic hockey tournament is set to run from 11-22 February. The women’s tournament runs from 5-19 February.