Rising concerns surround ice hockey at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy, due to missed construction deadlines for the Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena. Officials state there is no backup plan, placing pressure on the International Olympic Committee to ensure readiness by February 5. The NHL's involvement, absent since 2014, could be jeopardized if issues persist.
Construction delays for the new Santagiulia Ice Hockey Arena have sparked worries as the 2026 Winter Olympics near. The venue must be completed by February 5, but deadlines continue to slip, with no alternative plan in place. Andrea Francisi, chief games operations officer for Milan Cortina, told The Associated Press, “There is no plan B.”
These issues fall under the International Olympic Committee's purview, not the NHL's, despite promises of timely completion. The league's players have not competed in the Olympics since Sochi in 2014, and their return would mark a significant event following the success of the 4 Nations Face-Off last February. That tournament's championship game drew 16.1 million viewers in North America, the most-watched non-NFL event on ESPN+, with overall viewership up 256% from the 2016 World Cup of Hockey.
NHL players express anxiety over the situation. On the 'Wingmen' podcast, American forward Brady Tkachuk compared it to a school project without supplies, saying, “This just reminds me of back in grade school [when] I’d be like, ‘Hey mom, we have a project due tomorrow, but I’ve got no supplies.'” His brother, Matthew Tkachuk, added, “I’m nervous (…) Like, do they need me to hop on a flight over there [to] Italy, throw on the construction vest, and get hammering away? I’ll do it.”
Francisi noted no precise handover date exists but remains confident for now. A key testing event, originally planned earlier, is now rescheduled for early January, per Sportsnet’s Elliotte Friedman. Failure there could lead to widespread alarm. Without NHL stars, the event might rely on college and minor league players, as in 2022 amid COVID concerns, potentially stalling the sport's growth and fan momentum toward the 2028 World Cup of Hockey and 2030 Olympics.