Local baseball players may be able to look forward to a second “infield” at Vince Genna Stadium someday.

Bend Elks owner and general manager Jim Richards unveiled a proposal Tuesday night to build a nearly infield-size indoor training facility at a meeting of the Bend Metro Park and Recreation District board.

Although they did not make a formal decision or take a vote, board members said they were generally supportive of Richards’ proposal.

“I think there’s a lot of interest (in baseball),” board member Bob Woodward said, particularly after the Boston Red Sox, with Madras native Jacoby Ellsbury playing outfield, swept the 2007 World Series.

The district leases Genna Stadium to the Bend Elks for $1 per year, according to district documents, but the Elks are also responsible for maintaining the stadium.

Richards said that keeping up the stadium, including the natural turf, adds up to more than $75,000 per year.

He said he wanted to renegotiate his lease with the district to ensure the Elks would get sufficient use out of any new building to make the investment worthwhile.

He did not have any figures as to how much the new building might cost, but said he intends the organization to pay entirely for the improvements. The district would retain ownership of any new structure.

The Elks’ current lease of Genna Stadium runs for five years, with the option to renew up to three times under the same terms, according to district documents. The Elks are one year into their first term.

Richards said he wanted to extend the terms of the lease to roughly 30 years before going ahead with an expensive construction project.

The project would have many pluses for the whole community, he said.

A new training area, Richards said, would be useful not only for the Elks but for other teams that use the stadium.

Teams with Little League, high school and Central Oregon Community College all use the ball field, he said.

“(It gets) a tremendous amount of use,” he said. “What we’d like to do is take some pressure off the infield.”

An indoor facility would ease the toll. Or it could serve to allow more teams to practice at Genna, reducing the fierce competition for field space inside Bend, Richards said.

A new indoor facility would be built on the south side of the stadium, he said, where an aging batting tunnel now stands.

The tunnel, built in the 1980s, is poorly insulated, insufficiently lighted and may not be structurally sound.

Richards said the new facility would be the same length as the tunnel, 150 feet, but slightly wider, between 90 and 100 feet, and would resemble the infield of a baseball diamond.

Though it would extend farther into the stadium’s gravel parking lot than the current structure, he said he envisioned allowing employees to park inside the facility during games to offset any loss of parking spots.

The facility would have artificial turf inside.

He said he didn’t expect a net gain or loss in parking spaces.

The new facility also would provide accessible bathrooms, administrative space and storage space for field maintenance equipment.

Richards said new bathrooms, at least, are necessary to accommodate the growing attendance at Elks’ games.

The Elks’ eighth season, which ended in August, saw three games with crowds of more than 2,000 fans, according to previous Bulletin reports. The team averaged roughly 1,000 fans per home game.