Just think of the millions of gallons (or litres if you wish) of ink saved by dropping the "u" from words like color, flavor, etc.
Also: The first recorded use of the word "soccer" to refer to the ball was in 1486, and the first use as a verb in 1599. The word "soccer" originated as an Oxford "-er" slang abbreviation of "association", and is credited to late nineteenth century English footballer, Charles Wreford-Brown.