Coming off back-to-back losing seasons, the Heat hopes to be meaner when training camp opens in two weeks. It's already a given that the franchise will be leaner.

Pat Riley, in his role as coach and team president, revealed Tuesday that "every member of the organization" has agreed to a 10 percent pay cut, himself included. For Riley, that could amount to upward of $500,000 for 2003-04.

"I think this tells you about the character of the people who have been around here," he said. "We want to make this a financially successful operation."

Riley said the payroll reduction includes the team's entire business operation, including the management of AmericanAirlines Arena.

"A voluntary, across-the-board pay cut has taken place on the business side, the arena side and the operations side," he said.

While the NBA's collective-bargaining agreement prohibits such a team-mandated cut on player salaries, Riley's players face similar deductions. An escrow program withholds 10 percent of all player salaries based on a final calculation of league revenues. Last season, that entire amount was rebated to ownership.

The Heat, however, plans to include player salaries in its cost-cutting equation. For the first time, Riley said, his basketball-operations department is operating under a spending ceiling.

The self-imposed payroll limit of $46 million leaves the Heat with less than $1 million to spend beyond its current 14-player roster. It is $11 million less than the team's payroll from last season and nearly $30 million less than at the peak of a run of four consecutive Atlantic Division championships in the late '90s.