[Jon Stratis]

I don't help write the rules, so I can't know for sure... But I've always been under the impression that 8" was used to accommodate 4 digit team numbers. 8" plus 3.25" from having a noodle in the corner is enough room at a common font to fit a max sized team number (and many teams I see do fill the space on the bumper entirely with their number). This came from several years ago when they first introduced the 8" rule, and that year splitting team numbers was prohibited (which was also a headache to explain to some teams).

And as you said, it does help to force design tradeoffs, and encourage critical thinking about the game challenge.