Can anyone name one positive thing about having conferences in sports?

[Assani Fisher]

Was just thinking about how awesome a Pats/Colts Super Bowl or a Spurs/Suns(or Mavs) Finals would've been.....

Now I understand the need for divisions in the NFL- rivalries in the NFL, unlike other pro sports, are more based on regular season games(whereas in other sports, nearly every great rivalry stems from the postseason). So you want to have 2 DAllas/Washington or GB/Chicago games each year. Thats fine.

But whats the point in conferences? And in the NBA, why not just lose divisions all together?

The benefit would be being way more likely to have the best teams meet later in the postseason rather than earlier. Aside from being more fair, I'd simply think that this would make for better drama and MOST IMPORTANTLY better TV ratings.

Other than "its just tradition" can anyone name a decent reason for having them?