IRVING – The matchup between the Cowboys and Vikings tonight at Texas Stadium offers one group a chance to put on a show.

Owner Jerry Jones could have sold the rights to the games to a local television outlet but instead put it in the hands of a Cowboys production crew. This makes the Cowboys one of a handful of teams that produce their own preseason games for television.

The production crew includes about 10 full-time employees, along with roughly 32 freelancers, 10 of whom assist on the Spanish broadcast.

"We enjoy this," said Dave Ernst, the technical director for the games, who has worked for the Cowboys since 1992. "You need to have a love for football and television to be really into it for the preseason games."

Once the regular season starts, the networks take over production of games. But that doesn't mean the Cowboys' television staff is done working.

John Ingham, a senior producer, said television shows are produced for coach Wade Phillips and Jones, as well as Internet shows involving staff members from the team's Web site.

One of the Internet shows features Brad Sham, the team's play-by-play man.

"It's a big production," Ingham said. "You see us running around the locker room getting sound for our shows, and we like to mike players up for special things we're doing."

Salute to a former Cowboy: A news conference will be held today to announce that the NCAA Division II football game between Texas A&M-Commerce and East Central of Oklahoma, scheduled for Oct. 18 at the Cotton Bowl, will be named the Harvey Martin Classic.

Martin, a former Cowboys star, played football at A&M-Commerce when it was called East Texas State.

"To be associated with Harvey and the Cowboys is an honor for us," A&M-Commerce athletic director Carlton Cooper said. "We're excited about playing in the Cotton Bowl and glad to reconnect with our fans in Dallas."

The news conference will be held at 1:30 p.m. at the Radisson Hotel at North Central Expressway and Mockingbird.

Jones awaiting word: The NFL is expected to tell cornerback Adam Jones about his reinstatement status by Saturday.

Jones, who has been suspended since April 2007, was partially reinstated this June. The league told Jones in a letter that he would know if he was to be fully reinstated by Aug. 30.

"All along, maybe it's just hoping, but I thought we would have him," Phillips said. "That's the way we've been approaching it."