Just as I was contemplating starting to grind out faction rep to unlock some allied races in WoW retail, the news of no more repuation requirements dropped, and I will be holding off the grind.
Come Shadowlands and these requirements will be gone and unlocking the Allied Races will be a bit easier.
This info was datamined from an Alpha build of Shadowlands so it might change before release, but I am willing to bet Blizzard is likely to keep the requirements removed.