There are many different ways to frame Derrick Fox’s compensation of nearly $600,000.

Valero Alamo Bowl board members like to say the target for Fox’s compensation is the 75th percentile of all bowls, reflecting the game’s standing as one of the best in the nation.

Another way to frame it is to say that for putting on an annual football game, Fox, the bowl’s chief executive and president, earns more than San Antonio City Manager Sheryl Sculley, San Antonio Water System President and CEO Robert Puente, UTSA Athletic Director Lynn Hickey and San Antonio Food Bank President and CEO Eric Cooper.

But here’s perhaps the most poignant way to frame Fox’s compensation: He has made considerably more than the bowl has given away in scholarships.

Click through the slideshow to see how much various college football bowl directors made in 2012

That was true in 2004-05 when the Alamo Bowl gave away $52,000 and Fox hauled in $279,230, per tax records. It was true in 2009-10, when the bowl gave away $110,000 and Fox’s compensation jumped to $419,045, again per tax records. It was true in 2014-15, the most recent tax records, when the bowl gave away $432,500 and Fox earned $578,216.

Alamo Bowl board meeting minutes show that in November 2015, Fox proposed to the compensation committee a five-year “catch-up” provision to bring employees, including him, to that 75th percentile level. The board never acted on the proposal, but for Fox it would have meant a bonus of more than $850,000, records show.

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A year earlier, in the same vein, he asked the bowl’s compensation committee to consider a “tenure bonus” for staff, which several board members said would have, for him, equated to more than $800,000. The board didn’t act on that one either, but these are incredible requests from the head of a nonprofit organization that often promotes its community work. Bowl officials have said these weren’t specific requests, but just ideas, among many, to bring staff pay up to market value.

Fox was willing to answer questions via email about the bowl but not about his compensation. Instead, he directed those questions to board mainstay Pat Frost of Frost Bank and this year’s board chairman, Lamont A. Jefferson, a prominent attorney. Numerous other board members either declined comment, did not respond to interview requests, or could speak only off the record about their concerns because of close business and personal relationships with other board members.

“It’s awkward for anybody to discuss their compensation in a public forum,” Fox wrote in an email. “It’s the board that sets my compensation, and I respectfully request that you seek answers from them on those questions.”

In an interview, Frost was unequivocal in his support for Fox.

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“Derrick, he took us from the 18th-best bowl in America to the seventh-best bowl,” Frost said, citing the Alamo Bowl’s ability to attract better and better games. “Derrick’s management, his leadership, has brought us to the brink of being in the College Football Playoff.”

Frost said the compensation was justified based on internal performance — “We had a great year” — but also from a national perspective when looking at executive pay at other bowl games.

He noted the Alamo Bowl’s title sponsor, Valero, is very happy with Fox. So, too, are the Pac-12 and Big 12 conferences, whose teams play in the annual game.

“We are lucky Derrick hasn’t gone somewhere else,” Frost said. “And there is no doubt his compensation is one of the reasons why he hasn’t. He has been well rewarded, and we feel that he has earned it.”

In a later email, Frost said board members barely gave the bonus requests any consideration.

Compared to other major bowls, Fox’s compensation is near but not at the top, just as Frost says. His compensation pales in comparison to that of the Cotton Bowl executive, who earned nearly $1 million, per 2014-15 tax records.

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But plenty of other established bowls have paid their executives less than Fox in recent years, notably the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, Belk Bowl in Charlotte and TaxSlayer Bowl in Jacksonville.

And then there is the Rose Bowl, which paid its chief executive $427,000, according to 2014-15 tax forms. That’s a lot of money. That same year, Fox earned $578,000.

“Some of those things consultants have pointed out is some of those other bowls and where they are at,” said Lance Tibbet, a Tournament of Roses executive committee member. “For us, it’s kind of like, well, is running the Rose Parade and the Rose Bowl, is that any more important or deserving of any more pay than say, you know, those civic leaders in our town that are running businesses and government?”

In San Antonio, the answer to that question is yes.

The bowl is a private entity, but it receives public financial support. That makes Fox’s compensation of legitimate public interest.

As a nonprofit, the Alamo Bowl receives tax-exempt status. It also gets free rent from the city for its offices at the Alamodome, only paying for telecommunications. The Convention & Visitors Bureau — still a municipal entity — sponsors the game annually, $300,000 in 2015 and 2016, in return for four TV spots and other promotions. The state also provides about $500,000 in support from its event fund.

The game also benefits from millions of dollars in improvements to the Alamodome, including more than $43 million in ongoing upgrades that helped land the Final Four in 2018. Fox has used these upgrades to make his pitch to host a College Football Playoff championship game.

This is a bit of a sore point with some because the bowl is sitting on roughly $19 million in assets. The board is holding these reserves to cover the costs of a championship game, even though it is almost certainly out of reach. Twice the bowl has bid and twice it has been rejected because the dome, even with the upgrades, isn’t up to snuff.

“It just doesn’t measure up to the other stadiums that happened to be available in this bidding process,” College Football Playoff Executive Director Bill Hancock said in a November Express-News story. “But I think without major changes in the stadium, for our event at least, it will be a long putt for San Antonio.”

“Long putt.” That’s about as kind as you can be in a rejection, and yet Fox has been intent on pushing forward.

“I appreciate Bill’s candor, and one of the things we need to know going forward is exactly what it is we can do to make sure we can land this event for the community,” he said in that same November story.

In our email interview, he doubled down on this point, saying the reserves were crucial for bringing the big game here.

Could the reserves be put to other uses? Of course. At one point, for example, the Alamo Bowl’s board debated donating $1 million toward a practice facility for the University of Texas at San Antonio’s new football program, but instead chose to sit on the cash.

“Great board debate,” Frost said. “It was a lot of interesting discussion, and the end of the story is, we didn’t do it.”

Jefferson, the bowl’s board chairman, said that beyond the championship bid, the reserves cover contingencies such as the loss of a title sponsor.

“Why not spend it? It is being spent,” he said. “It’s invested in the bowl, in the stability of the bowl. The better the bowl does, the more scholarships it can reward over time. I appreciate that sentiment, ‘Hey you got a lot of money there, just spend it now.’ But if you spend it now, you don’t have the reserve.”

True, but the bowl also isn’t facing any instability. Valero’s sponsorship has been extended through 2019, and the bowl’s TV deal with ESPN runs through 2025.

All of this — the $19 million in the bank, Fox’s compensation, the missed opportunity to do something big for UTSA football — is particularly striking because Fox has historically trumpeted the charitable acts of the bowl system.

He got himself into hot water speaking before Congress in 2009, when he said, “Almost all of the postseason bowl games are put on by charitable groups” and that “local charities receive tens of millions of dollars every year.”

Not only were a good number of the bowls privately owned, but reporters found the 23 existing nonprofit bowls gave $3.2 million to local charities on $186.3 million in revenue.

But Fox said something more granular. Asked by U.S. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Ennis, about how much “money” from the Alamo Bowl goes to “classic charities,” Fox said, “There are several hundred thousand dollars that will go out to local organizations.”

“Whether it’s Boys & Girls Clubs, whether it’s Kids Sports Network, you name it. There are a number of different organizations who benefit from the bowl as well.”

Tax records show the scholarships but not the other philanthropy. When I asked Fox for clarification or supporting documents for the statement, a bowl representative sent me a list that included more than $400,000 in donations from 2008. This is in addition to scholarships and payouts to participating football teams.

The list did include donations to Kids Sports Network, Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the food bank and others. It also includes more than $330,000 in “tickets.” Got it? Tickets, not actual money that helps keep these nonprofits going. There’s a difference.

In closing our email interview, Fox said he was proud of the bowl’s growth, its economic impact and the scholarships it has awarded since 2000. He said the bowl is on track to give $3 million in scholarships by its 25th anniversary.

That would be quite an achievement. When it happens, maybe he can celebrate with an $800,000 bonus.

jbrodesky@express-news.net