Why 12 I could see 8 teams playoffs 1 week longer or 16 teams 2 weeks longer 12 forces a 3 team scenario with someone getting a bye. and same length of playoffs as 16.
Lets have some math fun there are approx 139,000,000 sq surface miles of ocean water on earth, each square mile to raise water level 1inch will require 2,323,000 gals of water. so to raise water level over all oceans 1 inch or 2.4 cm will take 2,583,398,400,000,000 gallons of water. Now ice weighs 57 lbs per square foot versus water at 62-63 lbs per square foot (hence why ice floats) it will take 26,910,400,000,000 cubic feet of ice to raise water level 1 inch. Now erosion and other factors may contribute to localized raise also.
Why 12 I could see 8 teams playoffs 1 week longer or 16 teams 2 weeks longer 12 forces a 3 team scenario with someone getting a bye. and same length of playoffs as 16.