Earlier this week, MLS made a major announcement: the increase of Targeted Allocation money that each team is allowed to spend. In simple terms, TAM, allows teams to sign players outside of the salary cap. Metro used theirs on Daniel Royer.

The numbers look staggering: TAM, previously set at 1.2 million per team, has been increased by 2.8 million, more than tripling in size. But it comes with a caveat: those 2.8 will not come out of the league's pockets. They would have to come from the team's owners.

A quick primer for those not up on MLS nomenclature: the league pays all player contracts, with the exception of Designated Players. So now we have this second mechanism that will allow the individual owners to open their pockets and improve the team outside of the league's budget.

You can see the owners from Seattle to Toronto to Atlanta to the poseurs from NYC twiddling their thumbs in joy. But what about Red Bull? The days of spending on the likes of Thierry Henry and Rafa Marquez are long gone. (In the latter's case, obviously for the best. In the former's... well...)

Red Bull has been quite clear about the team's direction since Henry's departure: the days of high-priced signings are gone. Yes, they will spend money, but on younger players: Royer, Gonzalo Veron. And they will not dig into the deep end of the well, saving money on Designated Players. (Last year's crop of Bradley Wright-Phillips, Sacha Kljestan, and Veron did not exactly break the bank, compared with what other teams were spending on DPs.)

So what does this new influx of TAM mean for Red Bull? No one is saying they need to sign another overpriced jerk like Marquez, but nothing is stopping them from spending that extra TAM on young players with high potential. Nothing other than the fact that it would come directly from Dieter Mateschitz's pockets, that is...

So will Red Bull let the rest of the league lap it once again, or will the absentee owner decide his American toy needs some cash injection? We know which one we're betting on...