Newton North and Franklin’s recent basketball excellence has allowed it to host multiple postseason contests.

As much as the schools have benefitted from the home court advantage, the logistics surrounding hosting tournament games that late in the postseason have made the experience a lot tougher for the athletic directors.

At Thursday’s Tournament Management Committee meeting, Newton North athletic director Mike Jackson and his counterpart from Franklin, Karrah Ellis, implored the TMC to consider the idea of going to neutral courts from the quarterfinals on.

“We’ve had a history of being pretty good and we’ve earned the right to host those games,” Jackson said. “But on many levels (hosting state quarterfinals), it is not conducive to hosting safe events. Our gym seats 700 and we needed to add 300 seats on the baseline just to get to the 1,000 (required by the MIAA to host a game in the Round of Eight).

“It’s created so many difficult situations for us. Our game against Braintree was sold out in nine hours and we could have easily sold 500 more tickets if there was a bigger venue.

“Our school is roughly two blocks long and we’ve had issues with people roaming throughout the school. We’re trying to run a tight ship because it has become a tough challenge trying to make sure the building is secure.”

Franklin experienced many of the same headaches that Newton North has faced. Ellis said some people have resorted to sinister methods to gain entry into the school.

“It’s very difficult for us to host a Round of Eight game — we’re turning people away,” Ellis said. “We had people breaking into the school through the loading dock to try and get in. It’s a very unreasonable expectation for event staff to deal with that.

“We have two of the larger schools in the state and we are trying to make this an enjoyable experience for everyone. Having to turn away people makes it very tough for the staff, it’s really a difficult task to manage. If people went in knowing right away that the Elite 8 games are going to be at a neutral place, that would be fine.”

The TMC agreed to put the topic on the docket for future discussion at its next meeting.

The only vote in the hour-long meeting was unanimous approval of the wrestling format for the upcoming year. The one change was that there will be a reduction in the number of All-State qualifiers per weight class from each divisional state tournament from six to five.