How to Add EverPass to Your Bar’s Existing TV System

The question everyone is asking

Since the NFL Sunday Ticket switch to EverPass, the phone has been ringing with one question more than any other: “Do I have to tear out my whole system to make this work?” The short answer, for most bars we talk to, is no. In the majority of cases EverPass can be added on top of what you already have, without ripping anything out. How cleanly it layers in depends on your current setup, and that is what this post walks through.

How EverPass actually works

EverPass is a streaming service, not a satellite feed. It runs as an app on a streaming device — either EverPass’s own hardware or the Xumo Stream Box for Business — and delivers the games over your internet connection. From your TV system’s point of view, that streaming box is just another video source with an HDMI output, similar to a DIRECTV receiver, a cable box, or a Fire Stick. That is the key insight that makes adding it on relatively painless: your system already knows how to handle “another source.”

Your options, from simplest to most capable

Here are the realistic paths we walk customers through, depending on what you have today.

Option 1: Add it directly to a TV (the simplest case)

If you have a specific screen or two where you want Sunday Ticket, the streaming box can plug straight into that TV’s HDMI input. Staff switch that TV’s input to the EverPass box when they want those games. This is the least expensive option and works for smaller venues or a dedicated “Sunday Ticket TV.” The tradeoff is that the games only play on the screens the box is connected to, and switching is done per-TV.

Option 2: Add it into your existing switcher or matrix

If you already have a switcher or matrix, the question is simply whether it has room. Many systems have a few open, unused ports sitting idle — in that case, the EverPass box plugs straight into one of them and you are done. No new hardware beyond the streaming box itself, and it is controlled the same way everything else on your system already is.

If your existing switcher is already full, there is still a low-cost option before jumping to a bigger system: add a small HDMI switcher onto a single existing input. This lets staff toggle that one port back and forth between, say, your regular cable or satellite box and the EverPass box — handy for venues that mainly need Sunday Ticket on game day and want to avoid paying for a whole new matrix just for a few hours a week. It is a manual step for staff, but it is inexpensive and keeps everything else on your system untouched.

Option 3: Build a full matrix system (when there is no room to add on)

Sometimes there simply is not a way to add EverPass onto what you have — no open ports, no clean spot for an HDMI switcher, or you are starting from a venue with no distribution system at all. That is when it makes sense to build a proper matrix: any source, including EverPass, routed to any screen, controlled from a tablet instead of manual switching. It costs more up front, but for a larger venue or one that is out of room to expand, it is the option that actually solves the problem instead of working around it.

The trap: a streaming box on every TV

Here is the plan we are talking a lot of owners out of. If a venue has no video distribution today, the instinct is to just buy a streaming box for every television and call it done. On a handful of screens, fine. But we have had calls from places with more than twenty TVs considering exactly this, and it creates problems that satellite never had.

Streaming does not stay in sync. With satellite, every TV showing the same channel is showing the same frame at the same instant. Streaming does not work that way — there is nothing on your network keeping separate streams lined up. If two TVs across the room are both streaming the same game on their own boxes, you can see up to about three seconds of drift between them. In a room where customers can see several screens at once, that means one side of the bar erupting at a touchdown while the other side is still watching the play develop. It kills the moment.

Audio makes it worse. If the TV you are pushing sound from is on a different stream than the surrounding screens, the audio and the picture people are watching will not match. Nothing makes a setup feel broken faster than a crowd hearing the call a beat before or after they see it.

And the boxes add up fast. EverPass is now selling the receivers at about $299 each, and while venues can receive some units for free, the largest free allotment — up to four — is aimed at the biggest venues (roughly 500-plus fire code occupancy). For a twenty-TV bar, that is a lot of boxes to buy, a lot of separate subscriptions and logins to manage, and a control headache on top of the sync problem. The “cheap” path stops being cheap in a hurry.

When it makes more sense to revamp the system

Once you are looking at buying that many streaming boxes, the math often flips. Instead of spending thousands on a pile of boxes that fight each other, that same money can go toward a proper distribution system — a matrix that takes one EverPass stream and sends it, perfectly in sync, to every screen you want, with audio that matches, all controlled from a tablet. The difference is that a matrix is an asset that improves your whole operation for years, not a one-season patch. If you are going to spend the money anyway, spend it on something that makes the business better.

There is one more reason not to over-invest in a streaming-only fix right now: nobody knows for certain that this exact arrangement continues. The commercial landscape for these rights has been shifting year to year, and it is not guaranteed EverPass will be the path next season the way it is this one. That uncertainty is a good argument for solving the problem in a way that holds its value no matter what happens to any single service — a solid distribution system works with whatever source you plug into it.

The honest bottom line

Most bars we have spoken with do not have an IP matrix, and the good news is they do not need to buy one just to get EverPass working. If your existing switcher has an open port, adding EverPass costs you nothing but the box itself. If it is already full, the cheapest fix is usually a small HDMI switcher on one input — a few dollars of hardware that lets staff flip that port between your regular box and EverPass on game day, without touching anything else in your system. It is not elegant, but for a venue that only really needs Sunday Ticket a few hours a week, it is often the smartest place to spend the least money.

But if you are a larger venue staring down a box-per-TV plan, stop before you buy twenty streamers. That is usually the moment to look at a real distribution system instead. The right answer depends on how many screens you have, how you control your TVs today, and how much you want to sink into a single season versus a lasting upgrade.

That is exactly the kind of thing we sort out every day, and why it is worth a quick conversation rather than a guess. We serve the entire Dallas–Fort Worth metro, travel throughout Texas, and work nationwide. If you are trying to figure out how EverPass fits your bar — and whether to add it on or build something better — give us a call.

Related reading

• What the NFL Sunday Ticket Switch to EverPass Means for Your Bar
• Sunday Ticket Without the Spaghetti: Cleaning Up the Cables Behind Your Bar
• Our DIRECTV packages for bars & restaurants