Like all champions in the US, the Portland Timbers come into this offseason with some big questions in front of them, but one that stands out in front of all the others: how will they keep the team that won the MLS Cup together?

Already we have seen some big changes to the team: the release of Maximiliano Urruti, the upcoming sale of Jorge Villafana, and the impending departure of Will Johnson. But now MLS has announced a new wave of Targeted Allocation Money for teams in the league, the same mechanism that allowed the Timbers to buy down Fanendo Adi's contract and sign Lucas Melano late in the season.

Each team in MLS will get an additional $800,000 of TAM in 2016 and an additional $800,000 of TAM in 2017, both of which can be used to bring in players on salaries over the $457,500 regular roster spot limit. The money can be traded and is usable on any number of players.

For the Timbers, the immediate impact of this is that they will be able to again buy down the contract of Adi, keeping all four of their current players on designated player level salaries -- Adi, Melano, Liam Ridgewell, and Diego Valeri -- on the roster going forward. Additionally, this increased amount of TAM provided, along with the cap space freed up by the loss of two medium to large contracts from Urruti and Johnson, could potentially allow the Timbers to bring in another player on a designated player level salary.

What the new TAM will not let the Timbers do, however, is buy down the contract of a player like Johnson who, while on a larger contract, is still below designated player level.

Also announced was an increase in funding for the homegrown player program, with each team receiving $125,000 each season to sign a player to a homegrown contract.

The MLS Press release: