I was surprised they went from 4 to 12 myself. My own personal logic tells me they went to 12 because they figured with 8 people would still complain, but likely it was more to do with finances when I really think about it.
In any case I agree with the other poster that said to give it a few seasons before we cast it aside as too many teams.
Definitely. The extra games was just a money grab. The only thing that took so long to make the 12 team playoffs a reality was trying to figure out who was going to get a share of the extra money.