It’s been an easily observed reality that the vast majority of Targeted Allocation Money has been spent on foreign imports. That’s by design. When the league released the new funds, it was with the express purpose of raising the overall quality of the league and the easiest way to do that would be bringing in players from the outside.
But that wasn’t the only purpose of the money, as it was also designed to be able to retain players. In order to bring Osvaldo Alonso below the Designated Player threshold, for instance, the Seattle Sounders will have to use TAM funds.