It's kind of like buying tickets for an aging rock band and hoping that the 80-year-old singers and guitarists will be healthy enough to put on the show months down the line. Only this time, the show might be moved from Italy to New York, per the AP. Tickets are about to go on sale for the next Olympics and nobody is quite sure if one of the major Winter Games venues will be ready in time. Organizers for Milan-Cortina in 2026 are rushing to build a "sliding center" venue in Cortina, Italy, while at the same time keeping open existing backup options in Austria (Igls), Switzerland (St. Moritz), and New York (Lake Placid).
Sales of hospitality packages that include the bobsled, luge, and skeleton competitions start in November, and general ticket sales for 2026 open in February. Organizers won't know for sure until March whether the delayed sliding center in Cortina will be finished and approved. Could that leave European ticket buyers with the prospect of then having to also purchase a transatlantic flight if the sliding gets moved to Lake Placid? Or Americans having bought flights for Italy then finding out that the events are closer to home? As of now, the answer appears to be "maybe."
"Right now we're proceeding with operational plans only for Cortina," says Andrea Varnier, the Milan-Cortina CEO. "Then as we get closer to the start of autumn we'll have a better indication of where things are. Then by February we'll be very close to an eventual initial (approval), and hopefully we'll be able to say by then with certainty that it will be held in Cortina." The local organizing committee's decision to rebuild the century-old track in Cortina has been met with fierce opposition by the International Olympic Committee, which wants Igls or St. Moritz to be used instead. No modern sliding track has been built in such a short timeframe. The Games begin on February 6, 2026.
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