It would make more sense for them to do away with conferences and have each team play each other 3 times. That way the standings would be perfectly balanced and you wouldn’t have the “this conference is tougher than the other” argument. Most soccer leagues in the world use a similar format.
Cost.
It is cheaper to send your teams across the state than halfway round the world, so inter-conferences only have 2 games while inter-divisions have as much as 4.