Why will the MLB be able to reach a labor deal quicker than the NBA and NFL?

It is very much an issue of personality and values. Yes, the CBA/Players Union/Owners are all factors in the current work stoppage but the real issue is the difference in what life as a baseball player and life as a basketball player look like.

The odds against a baseball player making the majors, let alone becoming a star and signing a huge deal are in the thousands-to-one range. Meanwhile, if you are over 6'7" and athletic you have a very reasonable shot at the NBA even if you had never picked up a basketball in your life prior to a few years ago. This leads to a far more reasonable attitude/approach by the MLBPA in labor negotiations than that of NBAPU. Simply put, there are a lot more baseball players who need to be taken care of then there are basketball players. Baseball players also face a lot stiffer competition for jobs and are more concerned with jobs staying available, than they are with the bottom line.

This may not seem logical if you are focusing on the A-Rods and Pujols' of the world, but if you take into account that the average major leaguer must do six years hard time at base levels, the likelihood of any baseball player ever making $1M per year is highly minute. On the other hand, a vast majority of NBA players will make over $10M during their career, even if they are absolute trash. At least that is how it has been over the last two decades.

To make a comparison that follow financial market history, the degradation of basketball rules (I'm talking about the game itself, not legal issues surrounding contracts/CBA, etc...) has created an environment which in many ways mirrors the Tech Bubble. You have a shitload of unproven stock, with no prior record of success which has been ridiculously bid up in value due to the convergence of exploding revenues vis-a-vis merchandising, television contracts and basketball's spike in global popularity.

So, you essentially have a labor force which has spent its entire existence in an environment which no longer exists. This labor force is ignorant to the realities of its market going forward. It doesn't help much that a large percentage of this labor force has a high school education and not much more, is surrounded by entourages and enabling yes men from early teenage and guided by agents and lawyers who are looking out for their personal interests and not those of their clientele.

The NBAPU is a lot like the UAW, if you think about it. A dying industry putting out a decreasingly competitive product. Revenues have begun to dwindle and "the players" much like "the workers" are overestimating their own market value and negotiating power. What is truly sad is that outside of the best 50 to 100 players in the league, the players' demands are counterproductive to their purported goals They can't see obvious fact since they simply don't grasp the economic reality of their situation.

After one of the best NBA seasons in the last 25 years, the players are shooting of their toes, feet and ankles in terms of revenue down the road, for the ability to whine, bitch and bang the populism drum today. All of this will end very badly for NBA players, but since we've seen how unions fuck over their members in just about every other industry...might as well add sports to that list.