The San Antonio Spurs hope 3 inches can make a Texas-size difference at the SBC Center.

Spurs Sports and Entertainment, the corporation that oversees the defending NBA championship franchise and manages the nearly year-old, county-owned arena, is reconfiguring about 14,000 of the building's 18,500 seats to provide more comfort and convenience.

The Spurs organization will spend "several hundred thousands of dollars" to make the change in response to complaints and fan surveys, officials said.

"No tax dollars will be used" in the project, SBC Center General Manager Stephen Zito said Thursday at a news conference.

Crews with Irwin Seating, the company based in Grand Rapids, Mich., that supplied seating in the arena, began the work Tuesday, and they plan to finish by Oct. 1, well before the Spurs preseason home opener Oct. 17, against the New York Knicks.

Most of the work is scheduled to be completed in time for a Sept. 27 home game of the San Antonio Rampage in the arena's 7,000-seat hockey configuration.

The backs of the arena's fully padded seats, originally installed at a 20- to 22-degree pitch for theater-style seating, are being tilted forward slightly to 10 to 12 degrees to allow for 2.5 to 3 inches more space between seating rows. Spurs officials said they asked season-ticket holders and others to test the new pitch to ensure comfort.