By Eddie Pells

LONDON - Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is in Britain this week to support the cause. He thinks it's great that the Giants and Dolphins have come overseas for a regular-season game that will boost the NFL's global image.

So, when can we expect to see America's Team in London?

Jones' take was one of the few sobering opinions to come out of interviews during a conference of international sports leaders being held in conjunction with the NFL's first regular-season game outside North America.

The majority said the Giants-Dolphins game, scheduled for Sunday at sold-out Wembley Stadium, is a logical and positive next step in a project more than 30 years in the making. The first overseas NFL game was an exhibition contest in Tokyo in 1976.

Over the past several weeks, commissioner Roger Goodell has floated the idea of an overseas Super Bowl. Waller has gone public with a number of ideas, including adding a 17th regular-season game to ensure every team one international game a year, and expanding the league to include teams on different continents.

A bit more certain is that the NFL will be coming back to Europe.

Owners already have agreed to play two games a year overseas starting next year. The participants likely will be announced during Super Bowl week. Just as certain is that Dallas - the most popular team in England, just ahead of Miami and the Giants - won't be one of those teams.

The 90,000 tickets for the game were sold out almost immediately after they went on sale. There's almost universal agreement that though Londoners aren't considered huge football aficionados, they know they'll get the real thing Sunday.