BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- Why Texas A&M?

That question has littered my in-box from SEC fans since the latest round of expansion talk. Some readers don't get how a school without a Big 12 football title since 1998 could be so attractive and set off dominoes with conference realignment.

Fair questions. Always remember this about college sports: Television eyeballs are like oil. Conferences promise to switch to a hybrid, but pumping for more becomes too addictive.

The SEC isn't exactly hurting for money. But its 2009 deals with CBS and ESPN (average yearly value: $205 million) are now trumped by the Pac-12 ($250 million a year from Fox and ESPN), even though the SEC has won five straight national titles.

Jon Solomon is a columnist for The Birmingham News. Join him for live web chats on college sports on Wednesdays at 2 p.m.

The current nine-state SEC footprint contains 58.6 million people and has one top-10 TV market (Atlanta), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. The state of Texas has 24.8 million people and two top-10 TV markets (Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth).

Not only that, Houston and Dallas-Fort Worth had the greatest population growths in the U.S. between 2000 and 2010, according to a Rice University study. Austin and San Antonio give Texas four of the top 13 metropolitan areas that have grown the most.

Think potentially adding 42 percent more viewers in a growing state might help the SEC in renegotiations?

According to one Division I conference commissioner, who is not privy to the SEC's plans, the Pac-12 remains the wild card in realignment. Pac-12 Commissioner Larry Scott has said he wants 16 teams. Now he has a mechanism in place that gives him the incentive to expand in the future.

Last month, the Pac-12 announced plans to become the first college conference with a national TV network and six regional cable networks. The regional channels, paired by rivalries, are Washington, Oregon, Northern California, Southern California, Arizona and Mountain. Adding Texas/Oklahoma would reap benefits, too.

To some extent, the SEC expanding would be a defensive move, said the commissioner, who wished to remain anonymous. If the SEC waits and the Pac-12 moves into the Central time zone, the SEC will trail in dollars and exposure, the commissioner said.

Think of conference realignment like presidential elections, except this is a race to avoid bad options when super conferences eventually emerge.

Picture a map of the United States as political operatives count up electoral votes by state. Now imagine those electoral votes as TV eyeballs. Some conferences are doing the choosing (SEC, Pac-12, Big Ten) and some are doing the defending (Big 12, ACC, Big East). All of them are asking which markets they should fight for and which ones they should concede.

Recruiting also explains the SEC's interest in Texas A&M. Some SEC coaches are already salivating at the thought of getting into Texas.

Nick Saban told a story last week about doubters when Penn State joined the Big Ten while he coached at Michigan State. Saban said adding Penn State opened up the East Coast to players Saban never got.

Les Miles was more specific, saying of Texas A&M: "They have a real nice talent base to choose from."

As it is, the SEC has more players this season from Texas (5 percent) than from SEC states Arkansas (4 percent) or Kentucky (3 percent). The SEC's chief competitors in expansion have similar Texas numbers. The Pac-12 gets 6 percent of its players from Texas, and the Big Ten is at 5 percent. Which conference increases its talent pool in Texas first?

Most SEC schools' recruiting bases wouldn't change by adding Texas A&M. The majority of SEC players come from Georgia (18 percent), Florida (14 percent), Alabama (13 percent), Louisiana (9 percent), Mississippi (9 percent), Tennessee (7 percent) and South Carolina (6 percent).

But the SEC would be able to sell recruits on playing a game in the country's most prestigious football conference close to home. New relationships with high school coaches (and yes, third parties) would have to be built, and it would be fascinating to see how recruiting in Texas would be altered. Enjoy policing that mess, NCAA.

Whatever potential moves the SEC makes will center on who adds value and who is motivated to join. That's why figuring out the potential 14th member or beyond is difficult.

Texas A&M? The Aggies fit both criteria.

Write Jon at jsolomon@bhamnews.com. Follow him at twitter.com/jonsol.