Paul Andrew Francis Dempsey (born 16 March 1960) is a British TV and radio sports presenter and commentator now chiefly employed by TNT Sports where he covers football and boxing coverage, as well as TV host and commentary on Indonesian Djarum's multiplatform Mola TV. After 18 years working for Sky Sports and 7 with the Dublin-based channels of Setanta Sports, Dempsey was signed by BT Sport prior to their UK launch.
Early life
Dempsey was born in Marylebone, London and lived in Leicester, England between 1966 and 1978. He attended St Joseph’s School and then City of Leicester Boys' School; it had a notable record of success in football, with England strikers Gary Lineker and Emile Heskey among its products. He then went up to St. John’s College, Cambridge, where he read English Literature between 1979 and 1982. He won two Blues and captained Cambridge in the annual football Varsity match against Oxford. He was one of the first ever recruits to UCD's Sports Scholarship system. He then played football for University College Dublin A.F.C. (UCD) as a defender during the 1982–83 League of Ireland season. He won the Collingwood Cup during his time at Belfield Park.
Radio career
After a summer job opportunity at the Irish News in Belfast he joined BBC as a graduate Trainee in late 1984. After spells in BBC Radio Sport and BBC Radio News he joined the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation, based in Bern, where he worked on radio between May 1986 and October 1987. Returning to London he freelanced at ITN and Channel Four News while launching Capital Radio's sports coverage with Jonathan Pearce.
Television career
At Christmas 1988 Dempsey was invited to audition for the launch of Sky News, which went on air in February 1989. Dempsey was one of the first presenters to be seen on screen and became a regular presenting sports news bulletins, simultaneously establishing himself as one of the lead commentators on Sky's initial sports channel, Eurosport. He covered the 1990 World Cup working alongside Ian Darke and Peter Brackley and the 1992 Barcelona Olympics. After the merger of Sky and British Satellite Broadcasting, Sky Sports became the new dedicated subscription sports channel for the network and Dempsey made his name covering football and boxing alongside other regulars, Richard Keys and Andy Gray as part of a multi-award-winning team. When Sky captured Premier League rights for the first time Dempsey presented Sports Saturday, later Soccer Saturday, with Sue Barker. He co-created the format for the show, which has remained unchanged for over 20 years, with Senior Producer Rik Dovey, a lieutenant of then Sky Sports chief David Hill. From the mid-1990s Sky boosted their boxing coverage by signing up most of the biggest names in Britain and the United States and Dempsey fronted all of the major shows either on regular subscription or Pay Per View Channels. His main analysts were former world champions Barry McGuigan, Jim Watt, Glenn McCrory and former commonwealth champion Nicky Piper.
For a period Sky enjoyed a near monopoly on the sport’s biggest names including Lennox Lewis, Evander Holyfield, Mike Tyson, Nigel Benn, Chris Eubank, Steve Collins and Naseem Hamed. Dempsey also became known to a wider international audience through regular commentary work for international agencies CSI Sports and TWI who relayed live Premier League, FA Cup, European and International football to a Worldwide audience.
He was a mainstay of their football coverage and commentated on the final day of the 1994–95 season as Blackburn Rovers clinched the title at Anfield against Liverpool and again in 1997-98 as Arsenal beat Everton at Highbury on the last day to become champions.
For 10 successive years Dempsey hosted the prestigious PFA Player of the Year Awards show from the Grosvenor House in London.
In 2002, he was a commentator for SBS covering the FIFA World Cup.
Although linked with rival networks on several occasions Dempsey remained with Sky until 2006 when he was offered the chance to return to Dublin to help launch Setanta Sports’ dedicated Irish sports channel. In 2007, he was nominated for an Irish Film and Television Academy Award for his hosting of the Rugby World Cup, an event which significantly enhanced the channel's reputation.
In 2009, Setanta's Great Britain operation went into administration. However, Dempsey continued to present and commentate on Irish TV on Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, Europa League and International football.