The AFL Indigenous Round is being credited with a spike in the number of people signing up to a campaign to recognise Aboriginal people in the Constitution.
The Prime Minister's parliamentary secretary, Alan Tudge, said 17,000 people had recently signed up to support the Recognise Campaign.
"Constitutional change is exceptionally difficult - only eight referenda have passed out of 44 over the last 100 odd years, so we've got our work cut out," Mr Tudge said
Mr Tudge said that by the end of the year there would be a form of words for a referendum which would be released to the general public for consideration, debate and consultation.
"We need to get a broad consensus across the community on a form words before we proceed further, because the worst possible result would be to put up a referendum and have it fail," he said.
Both sides of federal politics have committed to supporting a referendum on the issue.
The Recognise Campaign was promoted through every game in the Indigenous Round, which ran May 29 to June 1.
So far, more than 180,000 people have signed up to the Recognise Campaign.