Negotiations are continuing on a broadcast deal for the 2019 NAB AFL Women's season.
The structure of the season – the starting date, the length and finals arrangements – are all tied up in the broadcast deal and won't be finalised until that is complete.
Channel Seven and Fox Footy shared the broadcast of the first two seasons of the competition, with Seven showing Saturday night matches, the first game of the season and the Grand Final, while Fox Footy aired all games except the premiership decider.
Neither network paid rights fees for broadcasting the first two seasons, with the AFL intent on maximising exposure for the fledgling competition.
The final figures for player payments will also not be locked in until the broadcast deal is done.
The AFLPA signed off on a four-tier player payment structure in May to allow the trade and re-signing period to proceed, but the exact numbers for each tier are to be confirmed.
A maximum of three players per club can be classified as "tier one" and will receive the highest salary.
The AFL’s head of women’s football Nicole Livingstone told AFL.com.au the broadcast deal and fixture would be finalised "hopefully sooner rather than later".
"Last year the fixture was released in mid-to-late November," she said.
"I think we'll be ahead of that this year, but it all hinges on what the (broadcasting deal) looks like.
"The jigsaw pieces are on the table. It won't take us long to put it together."
Livingstone also said a decision on whether to charge entry for the 2019 season was yet to be made.
"We are working our way through it at the moment. We did a lot of market research – we surveyed 3000 people that went to games across the season on a range of things," she said.
"At this early stage of AFLW, we want to make sure we're not providing a blockage (by charging for entry) for people to come and support women's football.
"I had a conversation with some players the other day, who said their friends would pay a gold coin donation, but ticket costing is a bit more complex than that. Two dollars won't cover the cost of a ticket."
