Means you play every team twice in a 3 year period, plus your two "rivals" yearly. Easy straightforward scheduling, no long gaps between opponents, leaves room for 4 OOC.

Thinking about expansion.... Adding one to each pod sets 4 pods of 4. Which makes scheduling a bit less straightforward. Because then you have 3 from your pod and ... have to find some straightforward way to get 5 or 6 more. 2 from each of the other pods is probably the best. So it goes to a 9 game conference schedule but you still play every team every other year and 2x in 4 years.

Adding another pod (so 15 teams total) basically has you alternating pods, so playing 2x in 4 years, but with an 8 game conference schedule