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

With NHL players preparing to return to the Olympics for the initial occasion in more than 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 main trial competition for the 16,000-capacity Santagiulia arena originally planned for December has been moved to a smaller venue – and that no new test event has been arranged yet.

This situation raises the prospect 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 games, the schedule is very tight. But we knew that,” Milano Cortina local organizing committee CEO Andrea Varnier said in a recent update.

The competition that was supposed to evaluate the Santagiulia ice was a segment of the U20 world championship from 8-14 December. This tournament has been moved to the Rho Fiera hockey location, which is being established inside a giant convention center on the outskirts of Milan and will stage lesser games during the games.

Usually, freshly built Olympic facilities are tested at least the prior year to holding medal events. And with a large hockey arena, it’s not just about the ice and ensuring that the rink is ready and safe. It’s also about checking food outlets, bathrooms and everything else inside a brand-new modern stadium.

The Santagiulia venue, which is being constructed by a private company, is slated to become Italy’s biggest indoor arena. For after the Olympics, it’s being considered as a possible upcoming venue of the ATP Finals tennis event.

In spite of the postponements and concerns, high-priced tickets are already being sold for matches at the Santagiulia arena. Seats for the men’s gold medal game 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 tickets for the opening and closing ceremonies are priced higher.

The comeback of NHL stars at the Olympics was announced last February, with the world’s top hockey organization allowing its athletes to compete in the Winter Games for the first time since 2014 in Sochi.

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